A few days ago.
Shane who had commanded dark elves in his past life knew well how their magical power affected others.
Because of this, the attack from the dark elves that Harpe pretended to miss wasn’t very threatening to Shane.
After dealing with Harpe, one of the imperial guard knights, Shane spent his remaining time healing his wounds and sorting through Harpe’s memories.
He erased most of Harpe’s useless memories and only kept those related to the imperial family.
“Nothing much.”
Apart from the information Shane already knew, he could only grasp the extent of the imperial family’s interests in the Great Mezaiya Forest.
In fact, this was something he had already somewhat inferred.
The content of those memories was that the current crown prince, Zephyr D. Wyatt Samuel, was going after the Dragon Heart.
And his goal was to connect with the organization to obtain a part of the Dragon Heart or something equivalent to it, and to make this expedition a failure.
Since this wasn’t particularly new information, Shane left it in the back of his mind and looked at the dark elves who arrived at the appointed time.
Seeing Shane was still alive, the dark elves immediately assumed a battle stance.
However, the dark elves’ efforts turned out to be all in vain.
Shane’s dark spirit which was filled with his origin power had already enveloped the space and constricted the dark elves.
“It would be a waste to turn them into mere killing machines.”
There weren’t many elves to begin with.
But even with their small numbers, they were adept at assassinating numerous human leaders in his past life.
If kept alive, they would surely be useful.
Shane injected a part of his origin power into the elves.
Well, it is the invention of that madman, after all.
The dark elves who had already lost their intelligence and showed no change in expression let their arms and legs go limp and began to expel something murky from their mouths.
It was the corrupted magical power and residue that had seeped into their bodies.
[Are you coming to your senses?]
[W-where is this…]
One of the dark elves who was released from Shane’s origin power steadied their wavering vision and lifted their head.
The Shane they looked up at was wearing a plain white mask.
Shane had only spent ten years within the organization.
Considering the knowledge he possessed, this was an absurdly short amount of time.
Shane couldn’t say those ten years were short at all.
“You should make good use of the time you have there.”
Shane who was trapped within himself by his corruption thought of a girl. She was a girl with black hair and scarlet eyes like molten lava.
She had recognized Shane’s true self and whenever they occasionally met, she would leave him with the words to use his time well.
Even when he was trapped inside, and even now, her identity remained a mystery.
But one thing was certain. Just like she said, Shane had not wasted his time while trapped within himself.
His corrupted self clung to him relentlessly, tormenting his inner self until it was utterly exhausted and met a complete death inside.
In the mental world, the concept of time was meaningless.
It was a bizarre space where ten years could pass in the blink of an eye, or a second could feel like ten years.
To others, it might have been just ten years, but for Shane, it was an incomparably different concept he had endured there.
Because of this, he constantly explored and dissected the external knowledge he saw from within. And he eventually acquired it and evolved from it.
In the end, just as the girl had said,
Shane had not wasted his time there.
Shane who had briefly reminisced about the past looked at the dark elves who had regained their senses and thought of that girl.
Just like you said.
It wasn’t just because he followed her advice that he made all that information his own.
Nevertheless, in the end, she was right.
Even now, Shane couldn’t discern the girl’s identity, but he had a strong feeling that his regression was deeply connected to her.
It wasn’t a thought he dwelled on for long, as it was a judgment based on emotion rather than his usual rational thinking.
It’s not something I can figure out just by thinking about it.
Anyway.
Just as the girl had said before his regression,
Shane who had known all the information his corrupted self had absorbed found it easy to restore the sanity of the dark elves before him.
He had simulated encounters with dark elves even before coming to the cradle.
[Why have we ended up like this?]
[…Explain yourself. Who are you?]
When the dark elves who were still not completely free from the effects of corruption showed their confusion, Shane began to speak quietly.
Just as he had once done with the other female elf.
[I am the one who will help you regain your freedom.]
Shane slowly continued his explanation, but in a way that was favorable to himself.
The process by which Shane brought the dark elves back to their senses was not that difficult.
Firstly, elves are inherently born with the ability to accept magical power into their bodies.
Of course, that didn’t mean the elves could accept just any magical power; it required a lot of time and effort.
And the story would change if there was a powerful magical power strong enough to override that.
Shane had the ability to analyze and replicate those magical patterns.
Of course, it was impossible for Shane to create such magical power immediately.
However, twisting the magical power already implanted in the dark elves and altering it to the magical patterns he knew was not that difficult.
[So, you mean we need to persuade our kin to survive?]
[That’s right.]
The only problem was that the magical power within the dark elves had immediate limitations.
This was the very reason why the dark elves were considered incomplete.
They couldn’t replenish the magical power necessary for their survival.
Because of this, they lost their intellect and, after a bit of fighting, quickly ran out of magical power and met their own deaths.
For now, Shane was preventing such a situation by using the residual magical power unique to the dark elves as a base and guiding his replicated magical power to be consumed instead.
But this couldn’t go on forever.
Hence, he urged the dark elves to persuade their kin.
Of course, they were also elves and now that they regained their intellect, they would not betray their kin.
However, they were already facing too formidable an enemy to make Shane their enemy as well.
Even now, their enemies were capturing elves and turning them into dark elves, which was a significant threat to the small number of elves who couldn’t afford to lose their strength in this way.
Of course, they couldn’t trust Shane completely.
Shane understood their situation well and he stated just one condition.
[I’ll consume the Red Spirit Herb, and then I’ll go meet your elf leader.]
The Red Spirit Herb.
This poisonous plant was said to bring death to spirits and prevent humans from using magical power according to the amount consumed.
[Moreover, I will make the Oath of Origin.]
[……!]
This oath was known only to the ancient races
And just like its grandiose name, it had severe penalties for breaking it. Penalties that were far more severe than the mere freezing of magical power caused by the Red Spirit Herb.
[Understood. We will follow your will.]
[Good. Then first, we need to find out where your corrupted comrades are.]
[Yes.]
Afterward, Shane accepted the dark elves up to the limit of his magical power, and their number reached a total of fourteen.
And now.
Shane who appeared with the fourteen dark elves was met with a wary gaze from Dilaila.
“You… were you behind all this?”
Of course, she was making a misunderstanding that was understandable enough.
From Dilaila’s perspective, Shane now looked like the mastermind behind everything.
After all, he was surrounded by the dark elves who had been troubling the expedition team.
However, Shane shook his head in denial.
“Similar but different. I offered them choices and freedom, not coercion and threats.”
“What kind of riddle is that…?”
“Do they look the same as the ones you’ve encountered so far?”
“Uh…”
Only then did Dilaila look at the dark elves standing behind Shane.
Surprisingly, unlike the dark elves she had met before, their eyes did not contain that hazy aura.
Even now, they looked at her and Orca with curious expressions.
[To think there is a race that has escaped his curse. And a race of the underground, no less. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such thing.]
[Our kin are also here. Why are those two traveling together?]
[Is there really a way to break the curse, just like he said?]
[…The choice will be up to our kin.]
Seeing the various expressions of the dark elves and Orca’s calm face, Dilaila decided to let go of her outright hostility.
“So, they’re different from the dark elves we fought against, right?”
“Yes.”
Although she couldn’t fully trust those words, she felt they should at least talk.
Only now did she realize that Orca probably hadn’t dragged her here for no reason.
“So, why are you──.”
Before Dilaila could even start her question,
“Woow, I hope that’s true.”
“…….?!”
“They’re really not related to those dark elves, right? I really hope so.”
A woman with hair that seemed to be aflame appeared from the other side.
It was Raviata.
Her smile was blazing just like the flames rising from her hands.
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